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    These deserters were usually bachelors. To make homes they needed wives. These were found without too much difficulty in the small number of families which came straight from St. Pierre to settle on the peninsula. Finally, the peninsular French could go from time to time to the Acadian villages where they might find eventual spouses. Among the ancestors of Emile Benoit, the man who represents in this work the public folktale tradition, are both "French from France" and "French from Stephenville," that is, Acadians. In principle, once they had completed their time in the fishery , the fishermen who had come to Newfoundland through St. Pierre had to return to France. Some preferred to go back to Newfoundland, but to do so they at times had to have recourse to secret flight. The moving testimony of an old Franco-Newfoundland fisherman supports this statement. Mr. Frank Woods, born Francis Dubois in St. Pierre in 1893, told how his father, a pilot at St. Pierre, upon completing his service, was required to return to France (he was a native of St. Malo). He and all his family took flight one stormy night, pursued by French vessels, managing eventually to reach the West Coast of Newfoundland where they settled in the Bay of Islands. Frank Woods was six years old at the time, but well remembers the dramatic nature of the event. Later, the family moved to the Port-au-Port Peninsula. Charles de la Morandière notes that among others a family of Poiriers escaped from St. Pierre, seeking refuge in the Magdalen Islands in 1819. One should emphasize that those who left St. Pierre for the peninsula were already familiar with its waters, having worked there for so long.